Hurricanes
Facts and research on hurricanes! -Emily Owen
What is a hurricane?
Some frequent questions asked about hurricanes are, "When does a tropical storm turn into a hurricane?" "How high can the wind speeds reach?" and other similar questions to those. Well, I'm here to tell you the answers to those questions. As well as many others. The image to the right is a satellite image of a hurricane from space.
The first thing we'll discuss is the naming and categorizing of hurricanes. Hurricanes are named boy, girl, boy, girl. For example, a hurricane could come along and be named "Drew" for a boy, but the next one that came along could be named "Hollis". However, male names weren't included until 1979. Hurricanes are categorized by their wind speeds. A storm turns into a hurricane when it reaches wind speeds of 75 mph. A category 5 hurricane has wind speeds up to 155 mph.
General Facts
The next thing we'll discuss is general facts about hurricanes.The image to the right is a tracking map of a hurricane. Hurricanes can happen at any time of the year, but the main hurricane season is from June to November. Some people ask, "How do hurricanes form?" Well, hurricanes form when a low pressure system hits a warm body of water. When they first hit, they are known as a tropical depression. From there, they progress, and eventually become a hurricane. Another question asked is "How do they categorize a hurricane?" Scientists have a "special tool" called a Saffir Simpson Scale that determines if a hurricane is a category 1,2,3,4, or 5 by their wind speeds. Hurricanes maintain strength by warm water and if they travel away from warm water, they lose strength.
Hurricane Rita
To give you some examples of things a hurricane can do, I researched a pretty famous hurricane, which is Hurricane Rita. The image to the right is just some of the damage Rita did. Rita made landfall on September 17th, 2005. When Rita made landfall, it was just a category 2 hurricane, but it progressed into a category 5. Rita made landfall in four different states, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Texas was hit the hardest. Rita was responsible for seven deaths, and her damage cost around $10 billion. Hurricane Rita also spawned over 90 tornadoes.
Well, that's all I have on hurricanes. I hope I gave you some information on how truly dangerous hurricanes can be. That's all I have for now.